We decided to climb to the crater of Mt. Vesuvius by taking a shuttle from Herculaneumo to the base of the volcano. Our shuttle had room for 9 passengers, including the driver. After we had all piled in another couple arrived and paid for tickets. I figured they would have to wait for the next shuttle until I saw the Italian come out of the sales booth with a small cracked wooden chair which he placed in an open space in the van. The girl was squeezed in between the three of us in the back seat; her husband sat in the unstable wooden chair. The drive to the base of Mt. Vesuvius took about 35 minutes in a winding road with numerous sharp turns. I watched the wooden chair slide slightly with every turn - the poor guy on it holding tightly to the sides of the van.
We arrived at the entrance and began the trek up the mountain to reach the 4000 ft summit. It took us approximately 30 minutes of walking uphill to reach the crater. What a view! We walked as far as we could around the crater trying to find the best angle until we heard a slight rumble and saw steam come up from the rocks inside the crater! It was truly amazing. From the top you could see all the nearby towns and we are pretty sure we spotted the island of Capri. In the distance you could also see Naples.
It was time to meet our driver again and to claim your seat inside the van (I didn’t want to ride the chair!). As the original group took their spot in the van, we noticed the driver was giving tickets to an additional couple. Now, clearly...they would certainly have to wait for another shuttle. Wrong again! The driver opened the back door of the passenger van pointing to the space in the back meant for carrying baggage. We couldn’t see what happened next but assumed the couple refused the trunk space. We even joked about it in the shuttle as we made our way back into town…only to find the couple emerge from the cramped space when we reached the parking lot of the Herculaneum train station! The silly things you do when you are a tourist!
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3 comments:
All I can say is WOW! Sounds amazing!
You hear a rumble and see steam come out of a volcano...yes, 'truly amazing' does come to mind...but so does 'OH SH*T...RUN!!!'. At that point I would have needed a change of underwear.
Were there a lot of plaster casts to see? That's crazy. I hope one day I will see it with my own eyes.
We saw about 5 plaster casts. But there were probably more hiding in different buildings. The place is huge so it was impossible to see it all.
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